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A poem for Ammerdown

Beryl, a Friend of Ammerdown, loves coming here. She says Ammerdown has never ever failed to refresh and renew her. Last Easter, whilst here, she wrote this poem to try and express in words what Ammerdown means to her:

There is a calm about this place that gladdens me.
An arrow of delight, sheer and pervasive shafts
cleanly piercing my inmost being.
Ammerdown, beloved Ammerdown,
where all may shed their outer selves
of falseness and delusions.
Be fearless in speech and feelings.
Give allowance to those, as yet unshaped,
forbidden stirrings of another way.
Permitted here our faultering steps
to wander different tracks and other pathways.
Kindness, compassion, gentle listening
tend both our joyful and our downcast musings.
Ammerdown. Beloved Ammerdown.
We come, battered and crushed by modern living.
only to rise with Christ once more on Easter Day.

Isn’t it wonderful? To us, the poem encapsulates the core values of hospitality at the heart of Ammerdown: a desire to offer a safe and open space where people can re-connect with themselves.